February 12, 2017
by Carla Hay
The 59th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 12, 2017, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
MAREN MORRIS
Grammy win:
Best Country Solo Performance (“My Church”)
Here is what this Grammy winner said backstage in the Grammy Awards press room.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
With four nominations, you were the most-nominated country artist at the Grammys this year, so how does it feel to walk away with a Grammy?
I’m still sort of processing it, but it feels amazing. I was nominated with a lot of my friends in those categories. To walk away with it, it’s really validating.
Can you talk about what going to Grammy Camp meant to you?
I was in the first crop of Grammy campers back in 2005. I think everyone who went to that camp hoped they’d get to be on that stage, or in the pre-tel get to walk away with some hardware, but I never really thought that would happen. So it’s crazy 11 years later to have one.
What was more nerve-racking: performing with Alicia Keys or giving your acceptance speech?
Singing with Alicia, we’ve sung together before, so it sort of feels really natural now, but I was more nervous about actually walking up the steps to accept my award and not falling over my dress. Luckily, that did not happen, but the night is young.
Can you talk about your chemistry with Alicia Keys?
Alicia and I did “CMT Crossroads” a few months ago. It aired in December. Ken Erlich [executive producer of the Grammys telecast] saw the special and thought that if I’m going to be performing, this would be an amazing collaboration. It just felt really natural to be paired with Alicia again because we had already sung together, and we sort of joked that country and soul are cousins. It just seemed natural. She’s stood in my shoes before as a Best New Artist nominee. And she won, back in the day, so it was cool to be sort of ushered in by her today.
How are you going to celebrate?
My family is here. My boyfriend is here. I’m going to my label’s party after this. And I’m going to my first drink in a month. I fit into the dress, so now we can throw down.
Does winning a Grammy put more pressure on you for your next album? And have you started working on it yet?
Well, now that you said it, it does. I don’t know. I don’t really look at things in terms of pressure. I think that’s extremely counter-productive to the creative process. I haven’t started writing my next record, so I guess I’ll have to answer that question later down the line, but if anything, this just gives validation to the fact that that album did something for people. I think going into the next one, it’s going to be fun. I don’t think it’ll be pressured at all.